


Ten Simple Rules for Dating Clarus's Daughter

by Pookaseraph



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Identity Porn, No Sads AU, Romantic Comedy, Single Parents, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 18:50:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11652564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookaseraph/pseuds/Pookaseraph
Summary: Cor and his son Alex have moved back to Insomnia after five years spent on the post-war reconstruction of Gralea; Cor generally expected his son to be a major relationship hurdle in his future, but instead the boy helped him meet a cute girl in the park. If only Clarus would stop pestering him about his new girlfriend Iris...





	Ten Simple Rules for Dating Clarus's Daughter

Cor was more and more certain that the greatest benefit of being as high ranking in the Crownsguard hierarchy as he was was that he was able to call Dustin and have most of his moving issues tended well in advance of his return to Insomnia. Five _years_ of Gralean reconstruction had finally come to a close, a proper Parliament was elected, Iedolas Aldercapt's granddaughter Stella was crowned as Empress, ambassadors were sent to and fro, and Cor could finally, _finally_ return home.

"Don't wanna!"

Cor did not groan, instead he looked down to where his four year old son was loudly fuming about how little he wanted to unpack his things in his new room. The tantrums had been coming and going for months now, ever since Cor announced they would be going to Insomnia. He was sympathetic, at least. For Alex, Gralea was his home, but he and Aranea had been able to be adult enough to accept that they were far better off in bed than in a home together, and that there was no way in hell that she could see a kid properly tended on her airship fleet. Aranea loved her son, but she was hard-pressed to actually show it. Cor expected she would come by from time to time, just as she had for the last three years, but such visits would be fewer and farther between, and Alex was old enough to understand that much.

A small part of him wanted to just tell his son he would sleep on his boxes if he didn't want to unpack, but Cor couldn't channel the same taskmaster for Alex as he did for his men. Instead, he headed into his son's room, cracked open the linens, and made the bed in his son's airship and robot bed sheets, grabbed a pillow, and then tossed a blanket atop the bed. He sat, and patted the bed beside him, and Alex crawled up onto the bed and settled his head on Cor's thigh.

"You'll like it here before you know it," Cor assured his son. "You have all the same toys, you'll have daycare in the Citadel... and I'll be there at work so I can visit if you need me." He stroked the boy's light blond hair.

"I don't like it."

"You haven't given it a chance," Cor answered.

Alex was in no mood to listen to reason, however, so Cor just touched his son's hair while he grumbled. His son was certainly not one to suffer in silence, Cor and Aranea both were... strong willed people, vocal in displeasure, and it was no surprise their son was a mouthy little hooligan on the best of days.

"Unpack two boxes and we'll go to the park."

Alex made a displeased noise, but rolled away from Cor and planted on the ground, looking around at the dozens of boxes, and making a beeline for a toy box.

"At least one better be clothing," Cor said.

Alex gave him an annoyed squint, but then made a 'hrmph' noise and went to one of the clothing boxes. Cor popped open the tape and began to hand over the shirts, and Alex transferred them to his dresser. After he finished, Cor allowed him to pry open box of various toys - model mechs and airships, some strange Justice Monsters trading card game, and a toy sword.

"Park?" he asked, and Cor nodded, his son headed to the door, held out his hand, and Cor took hold, and the two of them headed out of the apartment, down the dozens of floors of the high rise, and then wordlessly hunched for Alex to hop on his back.

They made good time. Clarus had mentioned the park when Cor had been talking about returning to Insomnia. There was a huge playground that his younger son enjoyed playing at. Clarus had given Cor an unending ration of shit for ending up a father, largely because Cor had been none too delicate with his own ribbing when Clarus had managed to knock up that cute Galahdian girl almost two decades ago. Turnabout, he supposed, was fair play.

"Remember, play nice," Cor told his son. "And punching people is not how you say hello."

Alex gave him _a look_ , but Cor hardly would have reminded him of this if it wasn't a frequent problem of his son's. Then again, Cor had been a ball of aggressive energy from a young age as well. More turnabout, he supposed.

Cor settled in at one of the benches and then contented himself with people watching. There was only one other man there, a hulking guy, probably taller than Cor, with dark hair, and a suit that suggested money. It was an odd choice for park going attire, and Cor watched him for a few moments... high power, used to getting his way... and when Cor glanced out over the playground he decided that he could probably pair father to child.

A young boy, probably a year or two older than Alex, looked to be a ringleader of sorts, tall, and broad, too big for a young person's body. That kid would grow up to be a monster of a man, but for now he reigned over a small posse. They didn't _seem_ like trouble, but the snotty looking man put Cor on edge. His gaze then fell to the gaggle of well-paid nannies, teenagers, some women in their mid-twenties, most of them in a tittering congregation that included more than a few of them glancing his way; a pair of women sitting very close, either too wrapped up in their phones to notice the other person or perhaps a couple; and a young woman who had a pad of paper in her lap, relaxing by herself on a bench, eyes watching the crowd of children.

She might have been a nanny as well, but she wasn't part of the flock of them, and she seemed more interested in watching the kids than a nanny often was. It was hard to get a strong impression of her at a distance, but she seemed to have a fine nose and short cut hair... pretty cute.

Cor glanced back to the assembled kids, and then noted the larger kid was talking to Alex. Cor's pride and joy, terror incarnate, looked to be about thirty seconds away from picking a fight. He tried to decide if this was a learning moment about getting the shit beat out of you or if he should interject.

Ten seconds later, the chocobo fled the barn door and Cor was fairly certain they would need some ice for the mutual bruises that were probably forming. Cor sprung up and made the quick path to where his son was tussling, and he braced himself for the inevitable confrontation with the power suit guy, only to find that his son's opponent was scooped up by none other than the petite woman with the fine nose and the short cut hair.

Of fucking course.

"What in the name of the Six," she said, grabbing her child and shouldering him just in time for Cor to grab Alex and do the same.

"He punched me!"

Cor looked to his son, because although Cor hadn't caught the very start of it, that did seem likely. "He called me a Niff!"

The woman sighed. "Did you call him that?"

The kid's face said that yes, he had called Alex a Niff. "I was just asking! Niffs are troublemakers..."

"War's over, kiddo," the woman said, setting the boy down and then joining him on her knees. "It's been over for almost as long as you've been alive, we can't keep hating Niffs just because of the past. You know Dad wouldn't want you saying that sort of stuff."

Up close, Cor was beginning to note that the woman had fairly Galahdian features, the darker eyes and hair, slightly tanner skin, and the inherent animosity to a pale haired boy made far more sense. Insomnians had little reason to begrudge Niffs outside of the war in general, but Galahd had taken the brunt of the first Gralean invasion and suffered the most in land and people.

"He still punched me," the boy answered.

Cor sighed, and looked to his son. "I thought we talked about this, punching people isn't the answer."

Alex glowered at him. "Sorry not sorry."

Cor closed his eyes and groaned.

"Sorry not sorry!" the other boy shouted up at him. "You punch pretty good, though..."

It was the girl's turn to groan at that. "Fine, go punch each other," she said. "Bond, don't lose any teeth."

Cor put his son down and then the other kid shoved at his son, and Alex shoved back. "Don't over commit, dummy!"

A headlock and an elbow to the gut followed, and Cor shook his head and retreated to his bench.

"Boys," the woman said, shaking her head.

"I blame his mother for that," Cor said with a chuckle. "So I don't have to think about how complicit I am as well... I'd apologize, but apparently Alex is 'sorry not sorry'."

She snorted. "It's fine, Gladdy isn't exactly a mountain of tact. Iris," she offered afterward.

"Cor."

The two of them made their way to Cor's bench and sat down, and watched their children apparently become fast friends... by beating the shit out of each other.

"Mom busy today?" Iris asked after a few moments, and Cor frowned.

He and Aranea hadn't been together for years. It was so unusual for him to run into someone who didn't already know that, but he supposed it would be happening more and more often. "I have sole custody," Cor answered with a shrug. "My ex isn't particularly maternal. We already knew we weren't going to work out before Alex as born, but she stops by when she's not busy."

"Oh... uh... sorry," Iris answered.

Cor shook his head. "We have a good relationship, just one of those... 'better as friends' things." If anything, Aranea was probably one of his closest friends, they had come together in fairly enthusiastic passion, but once the mornings after set in it was clear that anything more than that just had the two of them grating on each other. He was fairly certain most men with sole custody didn't get frequent texts from their exes asking if they had gotten laid recently - 'gods Cor you are so much more personable when you've been laid'.

"Well, that's good that you can still be friends," Iris answered. Iris made a face that suggested it was a novel concept to her.

Cor was absolutely terrible with small talk, and he struggled for a topic. Kids... they both had kids. "Seems this place is a popular weekend destination."

"Oh, yeah... I don't know actually, I just moved back into town."

"Gralea?" He was surprised they had that much in common.

"Accordo," she answered. "I was there finishing my Masters and working at the Consulate. You're from Gralea?"

"Insomnian boy, born an bred, but I met Alex's mother when I was working on the reconstruction. Just moved back."

"Wow, long haul, most of the officials were only there through the Parliamentary election monitoring, but you were there through the Empress's coronation?"

Cor chuckled. Clearly Iris was well-informed on her various politics. "Indeed I was, so now I need to get Alex settled in and get back to work."

"Hopefully he gets settled quickly. I bet it's hard moving away from everything you know..."

"Well Gladdy seems to be settling in well," Cor said. "Lots of friends..."

"Oh," Iris chuckled. "No, Gladdy's my brother. He wanted to go to the park so I took him to give Jared a break."

Cor took another glance at Iris, 'finishing up a Masters' said mid-twenties, but she had a younger brother who was maybe five or six. That was one hell of a gap, might be half-siblings, he supposed... not really his business but... "So you'll be working?"

"Yeah, not sure on _what_ yet, but I'll figure it out." She smiled, bright and sunny, and Cor was surprised to find he smiled back, almost as immediately as she had. "Not exactly sure if you want to reward him, but... there's an ice cream stand on the other side of the park that Gladdy swears by."

"Thanks for the tip," he answered. A silent few seconds stretched and Cor glanced over to Iris, and she seemed... well she was smiling, and biting her bottom lip to keep from smiling even more broadly. "An ice compress might not go amiss..."

Iris giggled, and Cor had his own amused grin in response. "Want to go?"

"Sure." Cor turned to where Alex and Gladdy seemed to have finally stopped beating the shit out of each other, and he let out an ear piercing whistle that had Alex stop. A hand gesture from him got the kids over to where they were.

Cor got Alex onto his back, and Gladdy climbed up onto Iris's back as well, legs draped over her shoulders, meaning that when the two of them stood, Gladdy gained a head of height, and the two kids were at eye level again. A few steps, and Iris wobbled a bit; Cor glanced up to see that Alex and Gladdy were shoving at each other and Iris gave her brother's leg a gentle whack. "None of that."

Four ice creams found and purchased, Alex and Gladdy seemed intent on describing how they had gotten the best ice cream, while Iris shook her head and took an amused lick of ice cream.

The little Infernian on his shoulder - he called the voice 'Aranea' - informed him that he needed to get this girl's number, call her...

"Wanna trade numbers?"

Cor looked up at Iris, startled, not quite certain how his thoughts went to her lips.

"You know, organize a play date or something... we could maybe... stumble around Insomnia together, get reacquainted with it..."

"I'd love to. I imagine you're pretty sick of Altissian food."

She snorted. "A little bit. And Gralean? I don't even know what that is 'Gralean cuisine'."

"Meat and fish, mostly," Cor answered. "You're lucky to see a green vegetable, but thankfully Alex responds fairly well to the famed 'double dog dare' when it comes to getting him to eat new things."

"Not the double dog dare!" Iris gasped, and the two of them ended up chuckling again after that. "There's supposedly a super good Drosian place a few blocks from here. I've never eaten there, so it might be terrible, but..."

"Sounds wonderful, even if it's terrible."

"As long as the company's good?" she asked.

Cor was in over his head, he realized, as he smiled back at her... but he liked it.

It took three days, but Cor finally settled into his new office, or more properly made his old office new again. He now had a picture of Alex on his desk, and Cor was trying to get several things packed back away, and Iris kept texting. That last part he didn't mind.

_'You really got to *meet* the Oracle?'_

He chuckled and pulled the phone up: _'Yup, and she's just as composed as you'd think. You worry you're going to spill something on yourself just by breathing too hard... or your son could call the Oracle's son a 'son of a bitch'... one or the other.'_

Cor _still_ remembered that. Alex and Ravus weren't particularly friendly, not like Gladdy and Alex, but they at least were vaguely personable now.

_'Is that a family trait?'_

He snorted, and then looked up to where Clarus entered his office looking bemused. "Cor Leonis texting? And with a smile on his face. Either you've changed or that's still odd."

Cor gave his friend an irritated look, on the other hand... Clarus was still a good friend even if they'd been less social with him living a continent away for the last half-decade. "I met a girl at the park."

"And here I thought I was going to have to throw women at you," Clarus said with a chuckle. "Well, please, spare no details about this mystery woman who has you smiling."

"It's nothing, her name's Iris, she was out with her brother Gladdy, I was there with Alex, my son was very civil and tried to beat the shit out of her brother. We went for ice cream after, she asked for my number." He held up his phone to indicate 'and here we are'.

"Huh." Clarus seemed entirely nonplussed for a very long moment before he smiled, way too broadly, and shook his head. "Well, have fun, I suppose."

"I've been invited to ask her out for dinner," Cor said, glowering at the phone. "Some Drosian place... I don't know if I'm supposed to get a sitter or not."

"Allow me to let you in on a time honored secret that all men should know: just fucking ask her, Cor."

"Dating an incredibly blunt woman has given me a greater appreciation for _tact_ , Clarus." Cor frowned down at his phone. It was true, though, Aranea had no filter, she just said whatever was on her mind, whether that had to do with fucking or how annoyed she was at Cor's face or anything else...

"Although I think that place is pretty swanky, not really kid material."

Cor groaned. "I don't have a babysitter, and I don't think I will for a while... fuck it."

He pulled out the phone again and texted: _'I don't really have a sitter. Would you mind something a little more... low key?'_

Cor supposed Iris would sort of have to live with that aspect, after all he wasn't _just_ in need of a lay, he needed to find someone who would be alright with potentially step mothering his terror.

_'I've got just the place. Picture this: a ball pit and crappy pizza, bring lots of quarters for the arcades.'_

Oddly it sounded perfect. Iris probably knew of it because of her brother. _'Friday?'_.

Clarus's phone buzzed, and Cor glanced up, noting that Clarus was frowning at the text and then carefully typing out his response.

"Something wrong, Sir?"

"No, just my... uh, my daughter."

"Irene, right?" Cor didn't remember her much outside of her being her own ball of energy. Their universes hadn't intersected much before the end of the war, and certainly hadn't afterward.

"Right... Irene!"

Cor was saved from the awkwardness of his boss by Iris texting him with the agreement, and he smiled.

"Alright, I've got to go make fun of your love life with Regis now," Clarus said. "Have fun on your date."

"Clarus, for fuck's sake."

*

Iris wasn't completely certain of the wisdom of macking on a guy with a kid, but Cor was hot, single, and... um... hot? There was also the fact that he seemed pretty smart, thoughtful, funny... there wasn't a lot there not to like.

Of course her dad was _weird_ about her dating in general. He had _a list_ , the Clarus Amicitia checklist that must be passed in order to be considered for dating his daughter. Admittedly it was a good list, and included such necessities as 'hot' and 'considerate', and then there were the weird ones like 'sufficiently strong to be a worthy provider of an Amicitia heir'. That was where the list got weird.

So Iris fully expected to have to deal with the ridiculousness that was her dad when it came to the mystery guy she needed to steal Gladdy for.

The truth was that Iris didn't exactly have an easy dating life sometimes; she was an heiress, a future Lord of Lucis, and it was impossible to deny that sometimes guys looked at that and saw status and money rather than 'Iris'. Cor seemed pretty down to Eos, but that didn't mean that he'd be totally alright with dating An Amicitia.

It was sort of refreshing to have a random out of town guy who didn't recognize her on sight.

"So, tell me about this boy."

Iris groaned into her soda. "He's older than me, has a four year old son, he's super hot and fit. The kid picked a fight with Gladdy and I think they're best friends now."

Her father snorted at that. "Sounds like a real firecracker."

"Yeah... cute kid, though. Mostly he just has it rough right now because they moved from Gralea after the reconstruction was finished, so he's having some culture shock. I want to take him out to some places or... I don't know. He is super nice, please don't be weird."

"Hey, I can get details from Gladio. I'm a happy dad."

Iris clearly hadn't thought all of this through, and she made an annoyed noise at her father only for him to laugh in response. Thankfully he dropped it for the moment, although she sometimes caught her dad looking bemused and perhaps even excited for the upcoming date.

She picked out a dress that hopefully was casual enough, showed off a bit of back without being lewd, and she found Cor there with a nicely pressed pair of slacks and a fresh shave. He looked damn good. The four of them ordered a huge pizza for the table, and then the kids headed off to play while Iris found herself playing footsie.

They talked about Altissia, Cor had been there when he was much younger, and they compared notes before Iris finally decided to give up on subtlety and joined Cor on his side of the booth. His arm rested across her shoulders and Iris tucked herself against him.

Pizza arrived, and Iris wrangled the kids back to the booth before she came to sit next to Cor again and they discussed the great tragedy that was the fact that the ball pit wasn't deep enough to swim in.

The boys consumed a pair of slices each and then scampered off with a farewell: 'if you barf you clean it up' from Cor.

She worked through her slice at a far more sedate pace, and Cor picked at his own slice.

"You've... noticed my son is a hellion by now, right?" Cor asked.

Iris nudged him with her shoulder. "I did, but he's still sweet."

"I haven't dated much lately," he said, seeming to pick over his words. "Ari and I agreed we weren't meant to be years ago, before we even knew she was pregnant, and then I had Alex. Taking care of a newborn and working on the Gralea reconstruction project didn't leave me with a lot of free time. I'm just telling you I'm not very good at this."

She smiled at him, finding it far too endearing. "It's alright. You're... over her?"

"Yeah," he answered. "We are still friendly, but it's not... she's got a boyfriend right now, I had him over for dinner before I headed back to Insomnia just to meet him. I know it's a little odd, but it works for us."

"Better than the two of you hating each other."

He nodded, agreeing. "We worked well in the field, but as soon as we tried to actually share a space... but that's not what I should be talking about. Yes, I'm over her, and if you're willing to put up with the externalities, I would love to see if this went somewhere."

"Externalities," Iris laughed. "Come on, let's have some fun before they get back..." She reached out and took his wrist, tugging him over to the arcade area, and then Cor settled in at one of those machines with a huge screen and real-fake guns that you used to shoot the bad guys, monsters. He then popped in a few quarters and made a gesture that Iris interpreted as 'ladies first'.

Iris took up the gun and pointed it at the screen, beginning to shoot her way through the assembled baddies, after a stage or so, Cor added more quarters and joined her as a second player, and then they entered another stage, Iris shamelessly wedged herself against him, Cor shooting one handed so he could fling his left arm over her shoulder.

When Cor got taken out by a monster, he settled the gun back and slid himself behind her, arms wrapping at her waist and chin resting beside her temple as he held her.

"No worries," she said. "I'll protect you."

He snorted into her hair. "My hero."

She finally got KOd on the sixth stage and then she settled the gun back, twisting around in his arms so she could pout up at him, and his answer, quite reasonably, was to lean in, and they kissed like that, soft and shallow, with just enough warmth and tingles all the way down her spine to tell her that she and Cor had more than enough chemistry.

They pulled away, and Iris gave him a little smile and a tug, circuiting between a bank of crappy race car games and then winding up at skeeball, of all things. Cor was a monster at skeeball. Dozens of quarters frittered away, Iris returned to their table to cold pizza and a warm arm over her shoulder.

"No idea why you think you're bad at this," she said, and she placed a hand at his chest and then leaned in to press a soft kiss to his jaw.

"Did you miss the terror that comes with me?" he asked.

"The sweet terror," Iris answered. "Nah, he reminds me of Gladdy... hells he reminds me of a younger me. Look, I'm just saying... you seem pretty great."

"I'm not certain why, but I'm glad," he answered, and then they spent another few minutes talking about their respective times out of the country before the kids finally returned, and somehow managed to scarf another slice each and then frisked Cor and Iris for their remaining quarters and sped off.

Alex left the two of them with: "I'm telling mom!" Which had Iris confused for a moment before Cor started to chuckle.

"She... occasionally has choice words about..." Iris saw he was blushing now, it was so cute. "Me dating..."

"Good choice words?"

"Yes," he answered, chuckling now. "I believe the version Alex gets is: your dad is a lot more personable if he's getting kissed'."

Iris snorted. "I see. Well are you?"

"Am I what?"

"More personable when you're getting kissed."

He coughed, and blushed even more. "So I've been told."

"We'll have to put that theory to the test sometime," Iris said, enjoying the way Cor seemed to blush even more. It was beyond endearing. She then decided what she really wanted to do was tease at Cor's hair, touching the strands a little bit and feeling the soft hair under her fingertips.

Cor decided to join her after that, his fingers tracing the line of her jaw and her nose. Eventually they stopped just curling up in each other's arms and they chatted more, Iris talked about her studies, her time in the consulate, and Cor talked about his own consulate time. It was... nice, easy... and comfortable.

Iris didn't know why she just felt so right in Cor's arms, but she wasn't going to question it. She knew crushes, the fluttering feeling you got that was more driven by lust than anything else, but she just felt comfortable, that was the terrifying part, like this was where she was supposed to be.

They finally had to go home, Cor walked her to her car and in front of the very prying eyes of their mutual charges, Cor took her hand in his and pressed a soft kiss to the back of her hand, and Iris smiled broadly as she brought her thumb to her lips, kissed it, and then pressed it to Cor's lips in return.

"Until next time," he said, and Iris piled Gladdy into the car and they returned home, only to find her _completely nosy dad_ scooped up her little brother and gossiped with him for at least an hour.

Her phone chimed, and she glanced at it. _'Hopefully I can find a sitter.'_

 _'Double dates are fine.'_ Iris assured him, chuckling as she flopped down on one of the couches. _'I like getting a chance to know Alex.'_

_'I'm glad. He thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread... I think he's on the phone with my ex right now. I'm expecting a text any minute.'_

_'Asking if I'm a quality kisser?'_

_'Probably. I just... you seem very forward, and I like that, but I have to admit I'm a little hesitant to jump back into a relationship. The last time I got carried away I ended up with an admittedly interesting ex and a child.'_

_'I get ya.'_ A few moments later she added: _'It's fine, I'm just sort of feeling it out, too. No rush, I'm just not particularly coy.'_

_'I hadn't noticed...'_

Iris snorted at that, and hugged the phone to her chest. "A snort?"

She shot up on the couch, finding her dad there, smiling a bit. Iris gave him a side eye. "Yes, a snort, he's funny."

"I also hear there were... I believe the word was 'smoochies'."

"I'm going to drown him in the bathtub, just see if I won't," Iris answered. Sadly she had nothing to throw at her father, so she just continued to glower at him. "Yes, he was nice, his son is cute and high energy. Is there any way I can convince you not to be a total weirdo over this?"

"Nope," her father answered, and Iris glared over at him, but she could see that he was earnest, or at least a little amused. "Look, you spend a whole year abroad and all I hear back on the boy front is how all of them are mediocre. I'm allowed to want my little girl to be happy, right?"

Iris stuck her tongue out. "Yes, you are..." Iris groaned and flopped her wrist over her eyes. "So I was thinking I should start at the Crownsguard soon."

Her father said nothing, so Iris tilted her head that way to look at him, and he seemed to be pondering something. "Give it a little more time, get your feet back under you."

"Hook up with a cute guy?" Iris asked, voice annoyed.

"Did I say that? No."

"I mean I figure it's all well and good, right? I studied some politics, I did some time in the Altissian Consulate, I should be yelling at people in the Lord's Council... stepping into my role as Shield."

"You're twenty," her father answered.

"Yes? Since when does that mean I shouldn't be doing political stuff? I'm not going to do anything else. I need to learn how to be a Shield and adviser the way you are for King Regis. Just because the war's over after a bazillion years doesn't mean that I should be slacking. I didn't stop training just because of school, I'm in shape, physically and mentally, and I shouldn't let that go to waste just because you seem obsessed with me finding a Mr. Amicitia."

"I like the part where he's taking your last name."

Iris glowered again.

"Lord Consort, how does that sound?"

Another unimpressed look followed.

"Iris, I appreciate that you want to get to work, but you've been home less than a week. Once you're in the thick of things you won't have the same sort of time to relax and get yourself settled. You _will_ appreciate it when you're getting run all over the Citadel to take care of this and that."

Iris didn't like it, but she couldn't deny that her dad might have a point. "I'll take a month."

"Good enough."

Her father probed the date details a little longer, and Iris finally pulled her phone back out after the conversation. 'I hadn't noticed...'

_'Well, let me know when you want to go out again. Maybe the zoo?'_

Cor sent back that the plan sounded wonderful, and Iris smiled as she went upstairs to shower and curl up into bed. It was weird to think about it, but her dad wasn't wrong, she hadn't had the best of luck with guys in Altissia, they were mostly... 'meh' was the best word, and Cor seemed like a pretty nice guy, all told, so she hoped it would work out.

*

Cor finally had his office most of the way how he liked it, his shelves were appropriately packed with a variety of books: military history, fiction, and unending piles of reports; his desk was neat and tidy complete with pictures from his time in Gralea; and his thousands of honors and crap that Clarus seemed incapable of not foisting on him were hung appropriately. His dresser was stocked with two regulation Crownsguard fatigues, two sets of workout gear, and a dress uniform.

After a bit more tidying he finally found his old picture from Caem with himself, Clarus, Weskham, and Regis, which he set down on his desk as well and gave it a smile. It seemed so long ago - fifteen years - but in the end it had all been worth it, Accordo had rekindled the alliance, and they had moved against the Empire and managed to crush it before anything got too out of hand.

Peace, as Cor was slowly coming to realize, was a bit boring, but he sort of liked it.

A knock came on the door and then Clarus peeked a head in: "Lunch?"

"Chances you aren't going to grill me about my date at lunch?"

"Pretty much zero."

Cor sighed, but he shrugged, grabbing his jacket and tugging it on over his shirt before falling in beside Clarus. "Have you ever considered _not_ meddling? It might be a good look for you."

"Nope," Clarus answered with a genial smile before he flung an arm over Cor's shoulder. "Look at it this way: eventually you'll get married and I'll only meddle on alternating Wednesdays."

"Uh...huh, somehow I doubt that."

"Yup, you're right, but Cor, come on, I've known you since you were a kid. Don't you think I've earned a little bit of right to meddle?"

"Nope," Cor answered, just as genially. Sadly, the truth was that Clarus was a strange mix of big brother and father to Cor. He was admittedly only ten years Cor's senior but they had met when Cor was only thirteen, so the age difference had seemed huge and insurmountable back then. Clarus had offered him a hand up at a time in his life when he'd really needed it, and been there for him through all of the pitfalls.

"I got you that adorable suit for that first date you went on... what was her name?"

Cor groaned again. "I don't even remember, Debbie?" He sighed. "Fine, fine, at least let me get some food so I can make this interrogation worthwhile."

The two of them made their way to one of the local places, it was just a sandwich shop, but it was good enough for the interrogation purposes. Cor probably could have gotten a better meal out of it on the promise of gossip, but mostly he just wanted the damn thing over with.

"We went to... this horrible place with an arcade, pizza, and a ball pit," Cor said when they finally had their sandwiches. "The kids goofed off in the ball pit, Iris and I played a few video games and talked. Alex decided to mention his mother, so we talked about Aranea a bit-- no I didn't bring it up stop giving me that look, Clarus! Believe it or not, I do know that exes aren't first date material."

Clarus gave him a world weary sigh. "You broke up a while ago, didn't you?"

"Yes. It's not a thing, Clarus. She and I have dinner from time to time, her new boyfriend came over a month or so ago so I got to meet him, Prompto Besithia, he's the son of the old Imperial Research Minister. We're just... friends who happen to share a kid. Anyway, Iris quite rightly was a bit concerned about exactly that. No matter what I say I can't exactly force her to believe that, she'll either be jealous or not. Alex is my son, Aranea's my ex, and neither one of them is going away."

His boss held his hands up in a slightly soothing gesture and Cor relaxed. "But it sounds like Iris seems alright with the potential step-mom position?"

"Clarus we went on _one date_ , I'm not proposing. But if you must know: she suggested the zoo for another date, either she's one hell of a liar or she's happy enough to spend time with Alex. In fact, I told her I wasn't really ready to jump into something immediately, the last time I did that..." He left the rest unsaid. Clarus, on the other hand, looked horrified.

"Cute girl who likes your son and can put up with you? Cor Leonis, you better lock that down."

"She's a woman, not ballast on a boat, Clarus," Cor snapped, and then he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know you have my interests at heart here, but... I'd like to make certain it's something a little more solid than a romp with a woman I liberated Zegnautus with, alright?"

Never mind that Cor was almost positive that Alex had been conceived against one of the many walls he and Aranea had fucked against after the war was over...

"Sorry," Clarus said, shaking his head. "It's hard not to get a little gleeful over the idea of you being happy."

"I get it, I know you and Regis look at me as your little... _project_ , but I am an adult, really. I do like her, but it's not going to be some quick fling..." It was strange, because the more he talked about it the more he realized that he really already did like Iris. There were the obvious pros: cute, liked Alex,... really cute, but there was also the fact that she just really _felt_ right.

If he'd been thinking, he knew from the start that he and Aranea would flare out fast and bright, but Iris... Iris had all the earmarks of a comfortable fire, a nice slow burn...

"Do I even want to know what you're thinking?" Clarus asked.

Cor grumbled and shoved a hand out, pushing at the side of Clarus's head. "I promise I won't make her feel... taken for granted, or make her wait too long to know if I'm feeling sure about her. We'll go to the zoo, and I'll figure out where to find a babysitter."

"I'll help, you need all the help you can get."

He couldn't even really deny that he deserved that, so he suffered through Clarus's pokes and prods, mostly because it felt damn good to actually have someone to talk to about it. No matter what anyone said, it was a little weird to have that sort of discussion with your ex. Clarus even nodded his way through Cor talking about her adorably huge brown eyes.

Back in his office after lunch, Cor pulled out his phone and sighed. He shot a text to Iris: _'Apparently my boss has decided I need love advice.'_

_'Lol. Don't get me started. *Love* advice, huh?'_

_'Like advice doesn't have the same ring.'_ He frowned down at the text, at his phone. He wasn't even certain what he was trying to say, just... _'I think he's worried you'll think better of me.'_

_'Nah, you're pretty alright, Cor. Should I be thinking better of you?'_

_'If Alex hasn't scared you off? You're probably in the clear. I was just thinking about how you seemed... I don't know the word. Fiery.'_

_'You've got the right girl if that's what you're into.'_

He chuckled at that. That was probably a good thing. There was no way he would be able to fall for someone who didn't have that fire, that unrelenting drive... but... he didn't want to come away burned. Maybe that was the point... he would need to get over that if he was going to be with someone, _really_ with someone again. _'I'm just trying to sort out how to make this work.'_

_'Keep on being adorable. You're good on that front.'_

They had some more back and forth, agreed for next weekend for the zoo, but after a very stern talk with himself in the mirror he gave Iris a call on Tuesday, just to talk.

"Well, my job's not starting up for at least a month," Iris said with an obvious grumble. "So I guess I'm just stuck around the house mostly. I'll see if me and Gladdy can scope out some fun stuff to do."

"I still owe you a nicer date, too," Cor answered with a grin.

Of course that was about when Alex heard the word and he came flying over to the couch, jumping on Cor's lap and screaming: "HI, IRIS!!!"

Thankfully, Cor heard her chuckle. "Put him on?"

Cor sighed and handed over the phone and had to listen to Alex try to convince Iris to come over. He decided it was for the best though, because after a few minutes of back and forth, Alex shot off to his room and when Cor headed over to make certain he wasn't going to accidentally decapitate himself, he found his son was actually scrambling through boxes and pulling more things out to put away.

"What on Eos did you say to him?" Cor asked, rummaging through his fridge to grab a beer.

"Oh, you know, just that I couldn't think about coming over if his room wasn't presentable," Iris said, laughing.

"You are a Princess."

A snort. "Please, I'm way too tough to settle for Princess," she answered. "Might as well cash in on my cache while the kid still thinks I'm cool. He seems enthusiastic about this, should I be worried?"

"No, I think he's just caught some of his mom's... _thing_. I didn't date a lot back in Gralea so I think there's also some novelty to me actually having a woman around." Cor paused, considering. "He's not really had a mom, Aranea's sort of a... cool aunt, almost. I have to be the taskmaster."

"I don't want to step on any toes..."

"It's fine," Cor assured her. "I hate to sort of dump him on you, but he's part of the package."

"Hey, I have to give him some props, he introduced us."

"By trying to beat up your brother..."

"A kindred spirit!"

Cor chuckled. "Fine, fine... but no he's just... he's got this general concept that boys and girls make each other happy, that's all."

Cor checked on Alex again a half hour later, found him drowning in a pile of stuffed animals, and Cor helped him get those settled while he talked with Iris. He signed off much later, and read Alex a bedtime story and tucked him in. The kid was wound up and excited for the zoo, so Cor had to break out an animal book before he would finally sleep.

They passed the rest of the week with texting while Cor worked and Iris waited for her own job to start.

The zoo was crowded that weekend, but Cor managed to meet up with Iris outside, dressed in a beautiful sunny dress to go with the late spring, sunglasses and a sizable hat, along with a bag that she produced sunscreen out of when Alex was clearly unslathered.

"Get over here, you and your dad are going to look like pink shrimp if you don't wear sunscreen."

Cor watched as Iris made a very thorough sunscreen explosion over every inch of his son's skin, and he even sat through it with a 'yeah she's the worst' from Gladdy. Iris then menaced him with sunscreen covered hands, and after a very impressive glower Cor submitted himself to being slathered, which was mostly worth it when Iris ran her hands over his throat and back before leaving him with an impressive smear over his cheeks and nose, and then finished it up with a soft kiss.

"Good example," she complimented him.

"Absolute worst," he answered, but he followed up his complaint by kissing Iris's lips softly in return, and then the pile of them began their slow circuit of the zoo. The boys scrambled back and forth between the various exhibits while Iris stayed next to him, arm hooked through his.

The coeurl enclosure had the two boys enraptured for long enough that Cor was able to take a quiet moment to actually breathe, and look down at Iris, and note the way she happily smiled up at him, and leaned in to offer a kiss.

"Great suggestion," Cor said, tilting his head towards the enclosure.

"Thanks. I mean I _do_ have a little brother." She twined their fingers together after that, and just relaxed next to him.

Not much was said, just little snippets of nice thoughts, or a few moments to talk about an animal or long-done travel, and it was... pretty nice. Cor could get used to this.

*

Clarus was a king's man, through and through, so he knew it was his duty to make certain his king could appreciate the simple joys and pleasures of life... like being a ridiculously gossipy old man in peace.

"Gods, Clarus, get over here!" Regis said, waving his hand, and Clarus chuckled as he joined his king at the table with a delightfully set out tea service. He looked ten years younger... the end of the war had come in time that the Crystal and the Wall did not rob much of Regis's life and vigor... but, well, for all they weren't _that_ old, they had to enjoy peace.

If the Six were kind, peace would reign for years to come.

"They went to the _zoo_ ," Clarus said, because he hadn't yet reported that little snippet.

"How adorable. Iris's suggestion, I assume?"

"My daughter is brilliant." Clarus then presented the photographic evidence of the fact that Cor Leonis was absolutely terrible with women but also hilarious.

"Is she groping him?!"

"Sunscreen."

"So she's groping him."

"I mean... yes?"

"Dustin is sworn to secrecy I hope."

"I'm not an idiot, Regis."

"You're stalking your daughter and best friend while they go on a date. I think we might need to reassess the 'idiot' part."

Clarus gave his liege the side eye. "I don't _have_ to share."

"Brilliant, what would I do without you?"

"Be really bored until your son is old enough to stalk on dates?"

His friend smiled in response to that, and then made a beckoning gesture with his hands again. "You can't tell me that's all Dustin got."

"Please," Clarus answered. "I assigned one of my _top men_ to this. Do you really think he'd hang us out to dry like that?"

The two of them then shared the great experience and joy of following the progression of photos, his daughter reaching out to brush Cor's wrist with her fingers, the two of them relaxed against each other, Cor's arm over her shoulder.

"He really has no idea Iris is your daughter?" Regis asked after the two of them stumbled upon a particularly endearing picture with Cor leaning in to kiss her, Iris on the tips of her toes to make up the height difference.

"He seems to think my daughter's name is _Irene_. I figure it's justice for him forgetting her name."

Regis snorted. "Poor boy. I hope you're prepared for when he tries to murder you after he figures out you've known the whole time."

Clarus wasn't too concerned. The way he figured it, either Cor would be disgustingly besotted with his daughter and Clarus would escape with his skin intact on the weight of the relationship, or if the pair of them didn't work out, Cor would be too worried about not pissing off Clarus to want to murder him. Still, he was obviously hoping for the pair to work out.

"The funny thing was I hadn't even considered the idea of them together, and then the two of them went and ran into each other..." Clarus shook his head, laughing. "They get to take all the credit, or Iris does... Cor probably would have just sulked. I have no idea how he and Aranea got together in the first place."

Regis continued to flip through the photos, eventually chuckling as a picture of their four subjects of their stalking settled in at the cafe at the zoo and had a collection of food, their body language screamed closeness. Clarus couldn't help but smile at the idea, made even more so when the boys boarded carousel and Iris and Cor stood too close along one of the railings.

A few circuits and it seemed that Iris had taken it upon herself to enjoy the relative alone time, slipping between Cor's arms where he was leaning against the railing and tugging him down. The man's hands rested not at all casually on his daughter's ass.

Clarus cleared his throat, slightly flushing at that.

"Well, I guess I'll politely refrain from the riding joke," Regis said, flipping that picture over and continuing.

"It doesn't count if you still basically make the joke!"

Clarus did want his daughter to be happy, hells, he knew that she would eventually end up in bed with Cor, but that didn't mean that the pair of them tangled up like that didn't make him feel just a little awkward to see his best friend and his daughter that... involved.

"I think it does answer the question of how he ended up with his ex, however," Regis said with a chuckle. "I remember when he was younger and the four of us used to wonder if he'd have any idea what to do with a woman if one showed up naked in his bed."

He definitely remembered _those_ conversations, poor boy, flushed to the roots of his hair as Clarus, Regis, Weskham, and Cid all wondered.

"Oh, here we go, more tame again."

Clarus glanced to the picture, Alex perched on Cor's shoulders, Gladio on Iris's, and the two of them comparing heights, only for Gladio to decide that he should _stand up on top of Iris's shoulders_ for a few seconds before Iris shooed him back down.

One of the two objects of their schoolyard giggles arrived in the garden, and Regis hastily shuffled away the photos as Cor came up and looked between the two of them: "Don't make me start a war so you two have something better to do," he said, deadpan.

"We were debating if we should accidentally stumble across tickets to the theater or to the opera," Regis continued, completely ignoring the threat.

Cor glowered at both of them: "A babysitter would be better." He then sat down, took one of the cups from the tea service and then poured a cup for himself, taking a long inhale. Clarus got the impression that something was actually bothering Cor, legitimately bothering him, and so the old men enjoying the love life of their younger friend fell away.

"Something wrong?" Clarus probed.

"Just... trying to figure out how to deal with Alex and Iris," Cor said.

"I thought they liked each other."

"They do, it's just... I'm divorced... basically, I have an ex, I have a child with that ex, and Alex really does seem to like Iris. I just worry about things getting serious and basically forcing her to be a mother and..." Cor shook his head. "I haven't really dealt with it this deeply before. It's usually easy enough to leave Alex out of it long enough for it to be clear if the woman should be a part of his life or not and now..."

Clarus felt only slightly guilty for his school boy laughs with Regis about the whole thing, and he gave Cor a smile. "I had the same trouble with Ir-- Irene after Louri passed. Eventually I met Jasmine and it mostly worked out, but Iris probably already knows that you come as a package deal with your son. She'd be an idiot not to, and I don't want you dating an idiot."

"She's not an idiot," Cor answered. "We did talk about it, I just..."

"Well, that's not up to you to decide for her, really. She knows if she gets serious with you she'll be a step mother, it's not like you've kept that from her. If you don't think she'd be a good step mother--?" Clarus trailed off.

"She'd be great."

"And you want to be with her---?"

"Yes."

Clarus held out his hands, shrugging just a bit. "Then that's it."

Cor grumbled, and then took a sip of tea. Clarus watched as he fixed Regis with a stern gaze.

"Don't ask me. I'm just lucky Aulea puts up with me."

Cor snorted at that. "And to answer your question: theater, Iris is sick of Opera after a year in Altissia. Now I am going to go do work, because apparently my king and captain would rather plot out my love life."

Clarus was actually impressed that Cor knew something about Iris that Clarus didn't yet. Clarus got Cor some tickets for the theater and had Dustin drum him up a babysitter, and may have even thrown in a little extra, just in case Cor was particularly suave.

*

Iris was trying on her sixth dress, and she hated all of them. She wasn't some... alright, yes, she was a lady, and she worried about her appearance, but she was annoyed about exactly how much it was bothering her now.

"Alright, sweetie?" Clarus asked through the door.

"No, I hate everything in my closet." She opened the door, showing off the dark blue dress with a very annoyed glower.

"Oh, yes, that's so... last... season?"

"I bought this two months ago!" she grumbled. "It looks like a prom dress. I... I need to look mature..."

"Iris you are mature," her father said with a little sigh. "You graduated early from school, you look after your brother, and I'm beating you off with a stick so you'll take some time before you start working. I'm sure your boyfriend is more than aware of your... stepmom cred."

"I just... it's so complicated. I really like him, but I know he's really worried about the whole thing. I'd hate to upset Alex if we don't work out... we're both really full speed ahead types and..." Honestly under normal circumstances she would have expected some sex by now. They'd been going out for three and a half weeks, they'd been on six dates, and Iris was a bit... eager.

"Well, what are your options?"

Iris sighed and raided her closest again, finally deciding on a different deep blue dress that had a higher neckline and a lower back, and she decided she looked mature enough. She tugged out a few earrings and a necklace.

"Good?"

"You look lovely."

It was definitely worth it when she stepped out of the towncar and saw Cor standing on the street outside the theater in an incredibly nicely cut tux, and his answer was a double take and a very hungry glance down her body, causing her to shiver with anticipation before coming up beside him and sliding her hand against his arm.

"Well hello, stranger," she said, and then he leaned in to press a light kiss to her lips.

"Damn. Glad I dusted off the tux."

She giggled a little, and then the two of them headed in and to a wonderful pair of box seats. "Nice seats."

"The guys at work are pulling for me," Cor said with a self deprecating grin. "I need all the help I can get, apparently."

Iris smiled at that. She found it far more likely that Cor was well liked and respected at work, with colleagues who wanted him happy. Maybe Cor was nicer when he had a girlfriend, but random coworkers wouldn't just make sure he had nice box seats to take a girl out on a date if they didn't really appreciate him.

The two of them relaxed in their box, Iris's fingers tangled with his, his thumb brushing very gently against the back of her hand, and sometimes bringing the hand up so he could brush his lips against her knuckles before letting her hand back to the armrest.

Iris mostly focused on the singing and acting, but eventually gave up on that and made a study of Cor's features. He was so... sweet, she just... it was hard not to care for him, even though she knew there was a great deal more to it than just 'damn he's hot'. He was sweet, he was kind, he had people who cared about him who weren't even related to him...

And then he turned to her and saw her staring, and all he did was smile, and a few moments later he leaned in to kiss her, and what started as a soft brush of lips grew more and more heated, and Iris really, _really_ wished she could do something obscene just right there. Instead they kissed, Cor's hand on her back, his other hand behind her head, holding her, his mouth on hers. The play ended, eventually... and when the lights came up... there was just enough of her lipstick smudged on his lips to make her chuckle, and she reached out, brushing her thumb against his lower lip.

"Dinner," he suggested, voice strained.

"Not exactly what I'm hungry for," Iris answered with a rueful chuckle, but she let go of him and pulled away enough to give them some room. "But it would be nice to eat, yes."

Cor stood, and placed a hand at the small of her back, and Iris snuggled in close as the two of them headed out of the theater and Cor handed over his ticket to the valet.

"So... I may have a hotel room if you'd prefer. I'm sure there's room service."

Iris bit her lip, chuckling at that. "Really? A hotel room?"

"The fervor with which the office is pulling for me might astound and terrify you," Cor answered.

"That's really sweet," Iris said, accepting the gently opened car door when Cor's car arrived, and she slid into the passenger seat, Cor joining her in the driver's side a few moments later. "They must really like you."

"They do." Cor chuckled, and shook his head. "Meddling, but they care. So?"

"Hotel?"

Cor smiled and put the car in gear, heading off into the evening. Iris had to admit she was a little nervous. It wasn't that she thought anything would be terrible, or unfun, but she also knew that there was a lot of other crap going on. Normally she'd be with a guy and... well if he sucked in bed she'd just call it a day, or if he was great she'd definitely stick around for a while. Cor she almost didn't want to know yet, she was falling for the guy, hard, and she had an entire other person to think about too, Alex.

"Alright?" he asked, a few minutes into their drive.

"Yeah, yeah, just a moment of nerves."

"I'm happy to wait," Cor answered, reaching out a hand after that, and Iris took his hand in hers. "Don't get me wrong, you're beautiful, and... amazing, but I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to do this a bit more deliberately."

"It's not really that," she answered, looking over to him even though his eyes were on the road. "Just thinking about how I need to worry about another person, too, not just you and me." After that she looked out of the window and released Cor's hand. "I'm young enough that it weirds me out just a little bit, but at the same time... I like you, I like Alex, it should be easy but it's also just a little scary too."

They arrived at the hotel and headed upstairs, only for them to realize that apparently they were checked in for the top floor... and then that they were in some terrifyingly elaborate suite with chilling champagne.

Iris pulled off her shoes and stretched, in no particular rush to tumble into bed, and Cor tugged his bow tie loose only to walk over to the sitting area with the ice bucket and a pair of champagne flutes.

"I'll need to thank Clarus," he said, definitely to himself, with an odd little smile at his lips.

Iris frowned. "Clarus?"

"My boss," Cor said.

"Clarus as in... Clarus Amicitia?"

"Yeah." Cor took the champagne bottle in hand and peeled the foil before gently easing the cork. "The King's Shield. I guess you'd know of him, being in civil service. I'm the Marshal of the Crownsguard."

Iris didn't know what, exactly, was going through her head just then, shock, annoyance... possibly betrayal, and the worst part was the only person she had to focus that immediate irritation on was Cor. And he _clearly_ had no idea either, he wouldn't have mentioned her father if there was some sort of elaborate--

"Iris, are you alright? You look... annoyed? I didn't really think it was important that I was the Marshal, I would have--"

Iris held up a hand, and then she found it balled into a fist for a moment. "Clarus Amicitia," she said, again, because she couldn't quite believe it.

"He's one of my best friends...," Cor said, and Iris got the impression he was wondering why on Eos Iris was so infuriated by the general concept of Clarus and...

"He's... my dad."

"Your... your _dad_?!" 

"My dad, my father, my meddling, annoying... how long has he known we were dating?"

Cor seemed to shake himself out of his own confusion a moment later. "Since... since we met. We were texting the next day and I mentioned you and he's... been trying to be a supportive ass about the relationship ever since. I thought your name was Irene."

"Irene?" Iris had to laugh at that. "That's not Galahdian at all, you doof. I _wondered_ why he was letting me get away without introducing you to him... I am going to murder him."

"Don't murder Clarus... Six he and Regis must have been laughing their asses off for weeks."

"The _King_?! Oh I'm going to... damn it."

Cor had set down the champagne at least, and he came over to her and reached out a cautious hand. Part of her was just annoyed, a ball of irritation and frustration, and she glowered at Cor before she finally reached out and took his hand.

"Sorry, you didn't know, did you?"

"I had no idea, honest. It didn't even seem that out of character for him." Cor glanced around, and eventually he guided her to a couch and they sat down and Cor grabbed the flutes and bottle and poured them both a glass. They could probably use it. "He took me out to buy a suit for my very first date ever when I was fifteen years old. Hells, I figured he'd try to set me up on blind dates after I got settled in regardless."

A part of Iris was just annoyed, she loved her dad - although that love was being very, very tested right now - so it wasn't as though she'd dismiss a guy he recommended out of hand, but the idea that he'd... "He couldn't have set us up to meet," Iris said, eventually. "Gladdy was being a pest, it was my idea to take him to the park."

"Clarus mentioned said park, but it was mostly just to let me know it existed, he certainly didn't suggest a time or place," Cor added. "I think he was surprised, I remember him being nonplussed when I mentioned meeting you. At the time I figured it was just because he thinks my romantic skills tend to be less than zero, so the chance I met a beautiful woman and actually charmed her in any way was probably its own surprise."

"You are still charming... or at least cute," Iris answered, shaking her head. "Well, at least there's that. My dad is not a terrifying matchmaking mastermind. Wait. He got the hotel room for us?! Gods, dad. No sex on the dad bed."

Cor chuckled, and shook his head. "I can agree to that." He handed over a menu. "Here, let's order something while we best consider how to murder your father."

She took the menu and smiled. "Sounds like a plan, I knew there was a reason I liked you." She then leaned in and kissed his temple before folding open the menu.

They ordered, and curled up on the couch, sharing a few sips of champagne and relaxing against each other.

"Man, I can't believe we set ourselves up," Iris said, finally laughing about it after a few moments.

"To be fair, we live near each other and were both looking after kids," Cor said quite reasonably. "But yes, that's quite a coincidence. No wonder, though. Clarus always gets unreasonable about any girls I date, but no comment or demands to meet 'Iris'."

"Ditto, but with boys. He went easy on me while I was in Accordo, but I had to at least send a little report or have a teleconference. On the bright side... if the guy pissed himself he probably wasn't a keeper."

"Hells, I'd think about pissing myself if I didn't know Clarus was all but throwing you at me. He's a bit terrifying sometimes..." Cor leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips, and then against her temple. "So Clarus approves... not sure if I should be happy or not."

Iris shrugged. "Do you want me to read you the list? The dating Iris Amicitia list?"

Cor chuckled. "What are the highlights?"

"I've always been a fan of: hot, smart, and respectful."

"That's not too bad."

"The weird part is when you realize that you've been vetted to be the father of the next Shield..."

Cor gaped for a moment, and then flushed and looked away. "Yes, that is the weird part. Gods, we do have to talk about that, though..."

"Not at the moment," she answered, shaking her head. "I'm twenty, I need some time to actually get into the Lady Iris swing of things before I think about having kids. Alex would be more than enough for a while."

"I thought you were... um..." 

Iris looked at him, eyebrow arched.

"... Older. I'm going to take that back, there is nothing I could say to make that better."

"We'll go with you mistaking my wisdom for experience," Iris said with a smile, and then nudged him with a shoulder. "Ugh, I can't even think of a way to troll him back..."

"You'll be working at the Citadel soon, right?"

She nodded.

"How about the joy of knowing he's frantically running a shell game to keep us from finding out while we already know?"

"It's a good start," she answered. "And on the plus side: hotel room."

"With a dad bed."

"We'll figure out somewhere to have sex that doesn't have a dad bed," Iris answered.

"I have to admit I do like your priorities," he said, and then he leaned in to kiss her nose softly. "Is this a dad couch?"

Iris chuckled and reached up, brushing her fingers along his jaw. "Do you want it to be?"

He brought his hand to her hip and gave her a little tug. Iris laughed and threw her leg across his lap to straddle him, and then brought her lips to his, sliding her tongue against his lips and making a happy, hungry noise. Maybe it didn't have to be a dad couch...

*

Clarus may not have fully thought through the consequences of his actions. Oh, he wanted his best friend and his daughter to be happy, there was no doubt about that, but there was the fact that his daughter having boyfriends had always been fairly distant, clinical... he was not usually confronted with... whys and hows.

When his daughter came home some time very late into the evening, her hair in disarray and her dress rumpled, that was the moment he had to confront the fact that he very likely knew exactly how she'd gotten in such a state.

"Well good evening to you," Clarus said.

Iris just smiled. "Yeah... I'm gonna go pack an overnight bag, Cor invited me back to his place. We're going to see how a weekend goes."

Clarus was happy about that, of course, but at the same time it was a bit odd to see his daughter so... 

He was a man confronted with the fact that Cor had probably just had sex with his daughter, and that his daughter was packing a bag to go spend the rest of the weekend with Cor. A bit later, Iris returned in more casual clothes, a bag at her side, and she looked over to where Clarus was sitting.

"Heading off," she said with a smile.

"Have a good weekend, sweetie," Clarus said.

Iris frowned. "You alright, dad?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, I don't know, but... I'll have a good weekend." She bit her lip, and Clarus got the distinct impression her daughter's thoughts were very much elsewhere. "Don't wait up," she concluded with a grin and a tiny little giggle before heading out the door and shutting it behind her.

Late Sunday, long after dinner, Iris returned sprawled on the couch, and groaned when Gladio climbed on top of her.

"Oof, no, Gladdy I'm sore." She laughed though, and hugged him.

"Roughhousing?" Gladio asked, guileless. Repeating some of the Amicitia truth that roughhousing got you bopped.

"Yup," she said, laughing more. "Lots and lots of roughhousing."

Clarus didn't need to think about that, he really didn't, and he was only too aware of the fact that his daughter had spent the weekend with Cor, and although there was certainly a great deal of evidence that Iris and Cor had spent a good amount of time entertaining Alex, she most certainly had spent a pair of nights and...

"Why the long face?" Regis asked. "I thought Cor and Iris had a date. Didn't go well?"

"I think it just hit me that my best friend and my daughter are having sex," Clarus said, putting words to his own... thing.

"Well you've always been happy for Cor when he's in a relationship..."

Clarus nodded.

"And the same for Iris."

Again, he nodded.

"And you have hardly been uninvolved in their continued relationship... so what's the problem?"

Clarus frowned, trying to put it into words. "My daughter is having sex with Cor. I'm happy for them both, ecstatic, but I'm stuck having to think about the fact that they're together."

"I think it's cute, you should have Iris invite Cor over for dinner," Regis said, taking a biscuit and then dunking it in his tea before he chuckled. "Do I need to ennoble Cor? Is he sufficiently propertied to make an offer for her hand?"

"Regis!" Clarus pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "No, I need to get over it, I helped set them up..."

He took a deep breath, and then left Regis to his tea and politics.

A few hours later, Dustin came to give him reports, and Clarus nodded his way through the various pieces information. "And... several people have expressed a concern... the Marshal was... humming."

Clarus sighed. "Humming."

"He had a date with your daughter this weekend didn't he?"

Clarus nodded. "Yes, he did, and my daughter was over at his apartment all weekend. I have no doubt the reason why he's humming."

He eventually accepted that he would need to talk to Cor, not about the humming, that was fine, but just to check in. That was of course when he noted that Cor, dressed in his usual black t-shirt and he was able to see the faint echoes of what looked to be a hickey on his neck at the collar line, and lines on his biceps that were almost certainly scratches at the edges of his sleeves.

"Good weekend?"

Cor smiled, at first just a little smile, but it grew far more broad after that. He looked ten years younger, and it was almost charming. "Oh yeah," Cor answered, outright grinning after that, before he finally moved his hand to cover his mouth, almost ashamed of how much he was smiling. "Good weekend. Iris makes a surprisingly competent... co-parent."

Here was Cor, remnants of the weekend obvious on his body, talking about Iris like that, and it was... heartwarming. "A co-parent?"

Cor rubbed a hand against his arm, revealing that the marks there were mostly certainly scratch marks, and then he continued to smile. "I think it could work. She likes Alex, she seems... well balanced, kind, sweet..."

He exhaled, making a noise that sounded almost wistful and warm.

"She's... amazing."

"I don't think I've ever heard you talk about a girl this way," Clarus said, amused, and happy, but... it was unusual for Cor to be so effusive.

"Clarus she's..." Cor closed his eyes, and then a moment later Cor's phone beeped. He pulled out the phone, unlocked it, glanced at the screen and then cleared his throat. "... insatiable... I mean... I should go. Bye."

He then grabbed his jacket, stood, and walked out of his office without a second glance while Clarus tried to accept the fact that the chance his daughter wasn't _calling Cor Leonis for a nooner_ was probably about zero.

Of course then that evening Iris was even more insistent about starting her work at the Citadel, with the passing mention that Cor worked there, and hopefully he had a large desk.

What followed was torment, a week of unending torment where the two of them seemed to be either coming from or heading to sex almost every time he was around. He was terrified by the quantity of sex the two must have been having... slightly envious too, but mostly terrified.

That Friday, he returned home from work and found Iris in her bedroom, packing up what looked to be another weekend bag. A few toiletries were scattered across the bed, including...

"Why in the name of the Hexatheon do you need three boxes of condoms?"

He shouldn't have asked, he knew he shouldn't ask, but _three boxes?!_

"We'll go through them," Iris said, offhand, as she chucked a skirt out of her closet and onto the bed. Eventually she popped her head out of the closet and threw another shirt on the bed. "Hey, I was thinking... would it be cool to invite Cor and Alex over for dinner on Sunday?"

Clarus's mind went blank for a brief moment, and he realized that as much as he enjoyed watching the two of them dance their strange courtship dance he hadn't much thought about... well... "Suuure?"

"Cool." Iris finished folding up her various clothes and shouldered the bag. "Cya Sunday, text me a time."

"Have... fun..."

"We will!"

Iris waved and headed out of her room, and it took approximately five minutes for him to collect himself and pick up the phone and inform Regis of exactly how completely and totally he'd screwed himself over.

*

Iris wasn't certain she was delighted, offended, or annoyed that her father hadn't thought to come clean about the whole debacle before Sunday arrived. She wondered when, exactly, she and Cor were supposed to figure it out. Around Saturday, Cor had confirmed that he'd been over to the Amicitia Manor enough times that he'd know it on sight... Alex's expectations were slightly managed, and they would just play it by ear.

Cor would probably kick her dad's ass.

That was a problem for another time, because Iris was enjoying her Sunday morning, watching as Cor juggled scrambling eggs while Iris relaxed at the breakfast bar and played 'Justice Monsters' with Alex. Mostly they were just bashing toys together and growling.

"Iris?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to be my mom?"

Oh... apparently she wasn't going to get easy questions today. Cor also looked horrified by the question, which should have been offensive, but at least she knew meant he hadn't put his son up to it. Iris considered how to answer for a long while.

"Well... I'm never going to replace your mom, you know that, right? You have your mom."

"I know, but mom doesn't live with us, and she doesn't play Justice Monsters, and... she loves me her own way..."

Iris tried not to wince, unsure if that explanation had come from Cor or Aranea herself. Iris had never met the woman, but she knew that she just wasn't maternal, by Cor's admission and the way that Alex talked about her. It was clear that an 'extra dad' was a novel concept to Alex. Moms were occasionally heard and rarely seen.

"Well... it's really complicated," Iris said, finally. "I like you and I like your dad. Today you're going to get to meet my dad and my step-mom and you can hang out with Gladdy more. I don't think I'm quite ready to be your full-time mom just yet, though."

"I'll eat more vegetables," Alex promised. "I'll clean my room better."

Iris reached out to touch Alex's shoulder and then closed her eyes. "It's not that. You know how Insomnia's not really home yet?"

He nodded.

"I'm... it's going to take a little bit for the three of us to feel like step-mom and dad and Alex. Your mom and dad had months and months to get ready to be mom and dad, and I need some time too to get ready. Are you alright with us just being Alex and Iris for a while longer?"

The boy nodded, although he didn't look particularly happy about that.

Eggs and toast arrived, and Iris ruffled Alex's hair. "Hey, I still like you and your dad. I'm not leaving... but give me a few months. Now... remember, you're going to meet my dad, though. You should call him Grandpa Clarus, alright?"

Cor snorted, and Iris gave him a look that hopefully conveyed her mischief on that front.

"Now Lady Jasmine is my step-mom, so you should call her that: Lady Jasmine."

"Not Grandma?"

Iris shook her head. "Nope, Lady Jasmine."

"Grandpa Clarus and Lady Jasmine. I'll get it right. Should I call you Lady Iris?"

"Just Iris is fine. Is that alright?"

Alex smiled. "Yeah. Is... um is she stuffy? Lady Jasmine."

"She's very nice," Iris assured him.

They whiled away the rest of the day playing games, drawing, running around in the apartment grass areas, and generally just... feeling a little bit like a family. Cor pulled her aside late in the day when Alex finally distracted himself and he tugged her in for a soft kiss.

"Thanks for being amazing."

She flushed. "Cor..." Iris chuckled and leaned into his arms, melting into him and letting him wrap her up and hold her. "I... you're amazing too. You know that? I wish I could give him a stronger answer, I wish I could say I was ready to dive in head first, but..."

He pressed his thumb to her lips and shook his head. "It's fine. It's been a few weeks. You might know a dud by then, but you certainly wouldn't know if you wanted to spend the rest of your life with someone. Besides... I still need to murder Clarus, might be a relationship spoiler."

She snickered and nuzzled into him. "He deserves it. I think the grandpa thing might sting just a bit."

"Poor guy, he's forty five..."

"He earned it," Iris answered. She then sighed and relaxed against Cor. "I mean... I guess he had our interests at heart... he was just an idiot about it."

Cor nodded, brushing his nose against her temple.

"And you forgot the name of one of your best friend's kids! Two of them!"

He groaned. "I'm sorry."

" _Irene_. He's lucky we figured it out though..." Iris gave Cor's wrist a tug and they made themselves comfortable on the couch and she put her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. "And, look on the bright side: we can have lunch together as soon as I start work."

"I look forward to dodging your father and not having him drag me out to lunch to ask for details. I think he said he'd stop meddling if I got married. I don't believe him."

Iris snorted. "Seems unlikely. You'd... well you'd probably move to the manor. Six, that's even more stuff to think about. I know you're the Marshal of the Crownsguard, but... whoever I marry is going to be Lord Consort."

She watched as Cor seemed to swallow down nerves. "You know I'm not..."

Iris smiled up at him. "Not what?"

"Well bred."

"I know. I don't care... dad wouldn't either, dad _doesn't_ either. It's not worth worrying about yet anyway." She sighed, and pushed away, stretching and popping her back. "We should think about getting going."

Cor nodded. "I need to wear my katana..."

Iris snickered and then pressed a kiss to his temple. "Usually it's the father of the girl doing the threatening..."

"Oh no. I earned the right to menace him a bit."

Iris then found the mess that Alex had managed to get himself into, and ordered her would-be step son to get into the bathroom and get scrubbing. Cor accompanied him and Iris rifled through his things to find a nice little pair of jeans and a bright t-shirt for Alex, setting those out of the bed.

"I know it'll be a while," he said. "But... you'd make an amazing step mom... an amazing _mom_."

"Thanks." She smiled down at the clothes and shook her head a little bit. "Someday..."

"Doesn't have to be soon," Cor promised her. 

Cor left to get Alex to finish his scrub and then helped get him dressed for the journey to the Manor. They arrived, and their predetermine moment together as they waited, conferred, and eventually Iris helped Alex out of the back of the car and brought him up to her hip. "Now remember what I said."

"Grandpa Clarus and Lady Jasmine," Alex parroted. "I'll get it right."

The three of them walked toward the door, and Iris gave a gentle knock, and Jared answered with a bow.

"This is Jared," Iris said, and Alex gave an enthusiastic wave.

"Lady Iris, and... Marshal." Jared seemed confused to see Cor there, and at least on that front Iris was happy that the entire family wasn't in on it. "And young master..."

"Alex," Iris answered. "Alex Leonis."

"Hi...," answered an oddly subdued Alex, and Iris set him down at the threshold of the mansion and ushered the boy in.

"We'll find Gladdy and you can hang out with him. I'm sure he'd love to show you some of his toys." Iris brushed a hand over his shoulder and the three of them walked into the receiving area where her particularly nervous looking dad was standing. Beside him, Iris's step mom Jasmine was standing, also looking a bit more flustered, but seemed less surprised to see Cor than Jared had been.

Cor's response was to fix her father with a look that could have melted paint. Her dad, to his credit, looked abashed. Iris did her best to push down the irritation and took her hand to Alex's hair. "Alex, this is my father, Clarus and my mom Jasmine."

Alex gave a tiny little bow, not really correct, but it was the thought than counted. "Hi Lady Jasmine.... Grandpa Clarus!"

The tense air was slightly ruined by Cor snorting, and then the gut punched look on her dad's face. Alex, the little hooligan, looked up to Iris with a look that said 'did I do it right', and Iris knelt down to meet him in the eye with a smile. "Nicely done," she assured him. "Now let's see where Gladdy is so you two can play."

"He's out back," her dad answered, and Iris gave a little nod and after a few moments of awkward silence, Iris ushered Alex towards the sitting room and Cor followed after her with a look of stern and silent disapproval.

It took a few moments for everyone to get situated, Alex and Gladdy out back roughhousing and playing with wooden swords, and Iris and Cor sitting down on one of the couches, his arm slung across her shoulders, and her dad sitting with an awkward look on his face.

"So... Dad," she started when they all were settled. "Was there something you were going to tell us?"

Her father cleared his throat. "Apparently you already found out."

Iris crossed her arms over her chest and glowered.

"At first it was just because Cor forgot your name!" her father answered, but both her and Cor gave their most unimpressed faces in answer. 

Thankfully much of the initial rage and irritation Iris and Cor had had burned off over the last few days and it was easier to just accept that her father was an idiot and had likely made the decision not to tell them out of a mix of amusement and some misguided impressions of their best interests.

"I should have told you both," he admitted a moment later.

"Yes," Cor answered. "You should have. Clarus we..."

"I was so mad," Iris said, finally. "When I found out, and Cor didn't even know, and all I could do was be mad and he was the only one there. I was mad at _him_ and it wasn't even his fault! It... could have ruined the whole relationship."

Her dad pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're right."

"I know I earned some shit," Cor said. "Forgetting your daughter's name, but... damn it, Clarus."

Her dad nodded, and Iris sighed, leaning back into the couch. "Look on the bright side." She turned to Cor. "Blackmail forever."

Cor smiled and tugged her against his side, and Iris quite happily relaxed against him. "Good, not letting him live it down."

"Obviously you two figured it out," Jasmine said with a smile, ever the slightly soothing influence. "And I'll have you know I wasn't in on this at all, Clarus only told me a few hours ago..."

"We were out on a date," Iris said. "Obviously... Cor mentioned that he'd 'need to thank Clarus' and it unraveled from there." She tilted her head against Cor's shoulder and he brushed a hand along her shoulder and then her side. "Spent a week or two yanking Dad's chain..."

Cor smiled at that, obviously remembering some of that. It took another few minutes, Iris made very, _very_ certain that her dad understood how not cool it was. On the other hand, it did mean that she lived without the aggressive drilling that usually happened when it came to boyfriends.

The truth was that all of them knew exact other fairly well already. Dad and Cor knew each other, her step mother and Cor slightly less so, and Iris probably knew the man the least, but it was far more comfortable and sedate than previous 'meet the family' events had been.

Cor also was able to take her dad's ridiculously stupid behavior in stride and instead was fairly comfortable, all told. They talked a bit about Gralea, and then a little bit about Alex and his adjustment to Insomnia, relaxed and had a decent chat with wine and some chances for Iris to snuggle up against Cor.

"So, Clarus, Iris tells me that I need to be judged according to some... _list_."

Iris groaned into Cor's shoulder. "Please, no, not the list."

"Oh, you're going to go there, are you?" her father asked. "Let me go get it."

"Wait... you weren't kidding, he actually has...?" Cor shook his head. "I asked for this, didn't I?"

"You did," Iris answered, patting his stomach. "I won't defend you."

Her dad, damn him, actually left and although Iris knew the list was fairly flexible and she didn't _think_ he actually had it written down, he definitely did have that list. Iris spent those moments burying her head in Cor's shoulder, and the man gently rubbed her back until her dad came back and pulled out an entire sheaf of paper.

"Dad..."

"Ahem!" he cleared is throat, audibly and with great purpose. "So, let's see here. Respectful to my daughter."

"Yes," Iris answered, slightly annoyed, but if she was going to go through this, she might as well do it right.

"Attractive..."

"Yup."

"Jasmine, please!" Iris said now burying her face again. She didn't need her step mother calling her boyfriend cute.

"I agree," her dad said. "Jasmine, please. Let's see, not a layabout or social climber, I can vouch for that given the number of times I've had to drag him to social functions to even do his damn job."

"Does this mean I can stop getting dragged to various coming out parties?" Cor asked, hopefully.

Iris could only chuckle. "Cor, I have at least five to go to this year. Dad probably only made you go to ones with girls whose fathers he liked. I have to go to all of them."

"... Is it too late to reconsider?"

"Well, what's a girl to do, all alone with no escort?" She pouted up at him, and Cor gave a look that was slightly pained and then he shook his head and pressed a kiss to her nose.

"Fine."

She beamed. "It's really a lot less bad without all the flirting. And you look killer in a tux."

A quick glance and Iris was assured of that assessment by an agreeable nod from Jasmine. "What was next?" Jasmine asked. "Generous in bed?"

Iris squawked.

"Strong contribution to the Amicitia line..."

"Jasmine, please," Iris said, bemoaning her entire damn family at this point. "Yes. Good. I like him, he's sweet, Alex is a good kid, I just..."

"Leave her be," Jasmine said, turning to dad with a gentle pat. "Besides, she's the one who should be getting to give you a hard time."

"Yes, exactly." Iris took a moment and reached out to hold Cor's hand and squeeze gently.

"I did have a few of your best interests at heart..."

Iris knew that boys tended to get weird about her station or her dad, but she was pretty sure Cor had already worked through that already, but it was nice to know that Cor seemed to largely find her dad's stuff ridiculous, not terrifying, and Iris... well Iris was pretty happy about that.

Cor suffered through a bit more indignity, and Iris pulled him aside later to kiss him against the massive stairwell, fingers threaded through his hair, and Iris appreciated the gentle tickle of beard against her throat. "I'd say thanks for putting up with them, but..."

He chuckled, hand holding firm at her hip. "I put up with him far too much already, but for you..." He grew more serious, his fingers carding through her hair and Iris looked up into his bright blue eyes. "I... you know I care, right? I..."

Iris could tell that he was having a very hard time, and she also suspected what he wanted to say, so she reached up and pressed her fingers against his neatly buttoned shirt, ignoring the urge to play her fingers against his chest and instead feeling the way his heart hammered in his chest. "I know."

"I... lo--"

The sound of shattering _something_ broke the mood into a thousand pieces and both of them were dashing to the noise only to find that a toy sword had somehow managed to go through one of the plate glass windows and both Gladdy and Alex were looking abashed and questioning how easy it would be to pin the blame on the other one.

Iris sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair before going over to Gladdy to check he hadn't cut anything while Cor did the same with Alex.

"There's roughhousing and then there's roughhousing...," Cor said with a grumble.

"We were talking about how the Kingsglaive can... pew!" Alex made a throwing gesture, one Cor knew far too well from Regis's younger days.

Cor sighed, and reached out and brushed his hand over his son's hair. "I think I preferred when you were trying to be a Dragoon like your mother." He then brushed a kiss to Alex's forehead. "Let's go have you apologize to Grandpa Clarus, young man."

Alex frowned, but he did seem to agree that apologies needed to be made, and despite the tenancy for Alex to be 'sorry not sorry' it did seem he was legitimately feeling chastised over the break.

Eventually they had dinner, some particularly delicious mac and cheese, made with a variety of real cheeses and still catered to the younger palates. After dinner a particularly tired out Alex curled up on Iris's lap and slept, snuggling and making sleepy, contented noises as Iris gently rubbed his back.

"Looks like you've made two conquests instead of just one," Jasmine said with a little smile as Alex snored softly.

"Probably," she said. "He... hasn't had much maternal presence so I think it's just the novelty."

She glanced over to where Cor was looking at her with a little smile. "Don't undersell it. You know I do care for Ari but... she's not around and hasn't been since he was born."

Iris nodded, there was that... "Alright, yes... I made a conquest." She'd likely have to assure the boy for days that she had no intention of leaving due to a broken window. She didn't know if she particularly liked it, knowing that he worried so much she'd grow tired of him... 

A promise was made to a very sleepy Alex later - that she'd see him tomorrow - and Cor eventually headed off, receiving a long, slow kiss against the side of his car.

"Iris..." He closed his eyes and nuzzled into her throat. "I love you."

"Yeah..." She didn't quite know what to say, she felt the same, she adored Cor... "Um... me too. I love you. Dad survived... we'll make it work, alright?"

"Indeed we will."

*

Cor hadn't truly begun to appreciated the non-obvious perks of dating Iris Amicitia until months after it began. In a matter of a few months he'd gone from being a busy single father to... well he was still a busy single father, but Jasmine was always happy to take Alex off his hands for an evening, and Jared was a quite competent childcare provider as well. Clarus had oddly taken to his role as step-grandfather with gusto as well, although Cor got the distinct impression he was very, _very_ interested in being a grandfather himself.

He and Iris weren't in a particular rush to have more kids, so that was occasionally a strain... but as much as Cor bemoaned the parties he now was expected to attend, and the pestering about kids from Clarus... Cor was happy, comfortable... and in love.

Regis seemed the most delighted in commenting on it, oddly. Perhaps it wasn't so odd, of the lot of them Regis had always been the hopeless romantic with the fairy tale wedding and the beautiful bride he had loved since he was a boy...

All that combined together to give Cor a woman he loved, a second home that welcomed him and his son, and left him beyond content.

The one very major downside was he was completely incapable of escaping Clarus's meddling and his general familial presence. Ever.

When Aranea finally visited several months after Cor and Alex had finally settled in to things, it wasn't any particular surprise to _Cor_ when she came up to him and wrapped him in a rib cracking hug and pressed a warm - but chaste - kiss to his lips. Iris probably wouldn't have even been surprised under the circumstances, Clarus and Regis on the other hand...

"Um... Ari," Cor turned to the two men who had been in the middle of tea with Cor. "This is... King Regis, and Lord Clarus Amicitia."

"The new father-in-law!" she said. "Pleasure."

"Uh... huh." Clarus looked entirely nonplussed and more than a little annoyed, while Regis looked scandalized. Cor thought it was just a little hypocritical, at least on Clarus's part, because the guy was on his second wife even if he was a widower.

"We're not married," Cor answered, because it seemed his best idea was probably to ignore Clarus and hope the whole thing went away. "This is Aranea Highwind, my ex. Where's the new guy?"

"Prompto? He's doing some sort of science meet and greet with the Crownsguard types," Ari answered. "Where's the squirt?"

Cor pulled out his phone and tapped out a quick message to Iris, and then sat back down to the Most Awkward Tea ever with Clarus and Regis as Aranea happily poured herself a cup and ignored the uncomfortable silence as Cor and her caught up. They discussed the Empress and the various things going on with the Parliament and eventually Regis seemed to get over his initial shock in order to engage in a small amount of politics. 

Iris came eventually, Alex on one hip, and she placed the boy down and he came over to give Aranea a big hug and a 'don't scare away Iris'. His son had mostly gotten over the fear that he would somehow drive away Iris, but it seemed that his mother was still a potential scarer.

She came over to him, and was about to lean in for a kiss when she arched her eyebrow. "Nice lipstick."

Cor sighed and pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away the makeup, accepting Iris's kiss on his cheek and her joining the four of them, Alex perched on Aranea's lap. He found himself left with the first major balancing act of his post-Aranea life: Aranea and Iris at tea together. Iris, to her credit, seemed more than content just to sit nearby, and it was Cor who found himself with the slightly awkward desire to cling to Iris.

She seemed to notice, eventually, and then reached out to brush a hand down his back. Aranea took their son to give her a brief tour of the Citadel, and Iris scooted close enough to brush a hand down Cor's back.

"Jumpy?" she asked with a little chuckle.

"Awkward," he answered. "I think Clarus is plotting my murder."

"Dad... no." She turned towards Clarus and fixed him with a stern gaze. "She's Alex's mom, and she and Cor were an item." Iris reached out, and Cor was far, far too glad that Iris was understanding about the whole thing. Ari... meant well, and was demonstrative when she wanted to be, but it wasn't a pissing match with Cor or Iris or anyone else. Their hands tangled together.

The two of them finally left to head to Cor's office and relax, just take a few moments to themselves.

"You're not mad?" he asked, just checking.

She shook her head. "Nah. You want me to be?"

"No." He was happy to appreciate the agreeable side of Iris, and he happily scooped her up and set her to sit on his desk, leaning in to kiss at her throat. "I will take a happy and agreeable girlfriend over the alternative any day."

"Besides...," she trailed off, her hands ran along his stomach. "Can't stay mad at the father of my future child, can I?"

Cor found his brain completely confused by the words, but still he was quickly able to sort out exactly what that meant and... "I actually know how to use condoms, I swear."

Iris snorted. "Evidence suggests otherwise." Still she reached up and tugged him into a kiss. "Not mad if you aren't."

"I'm not," he answered immediately, but that did leave him realizing that this was... well Iris wasn't some commodore who didn't give much care to her social standing or anything that people might say. Iris was a lady, and he was expected to...

He was going to be a father, again, but this time with a woman he knew he couldn't live without. "Do you want to get married?"

"Do you?" she asked in return. "Cor, yeah, I love you, but if you're not ready you're not ready."

Wife, kids, job... no war... meddling father in law who was going to make his life a living hell for the next half-dozen months... sounded perfect. His hand came to rest on her stomach, flat still, but... "Yeah, I do."

"Then you should at least ask properly," she said, and Cor retreated less than a moment later, looking into her eyes and smiling.

He took a knee, closing his eyes for a moment. "Iris, you've been a shining addition to my life ever since the day my son tried to beat the shit out of your brother. I love you... and I can't imagine building a home and a future without you in it. So... would you marry me... so your father doesn't murder me?"

She snorted. "Yeah. I'll marry you, and protect you from dad. How's that sound?"

"Perfect. Absolutely perfect."

It was hard to say who was more excited by the news: Clarus because he was going to be a grandfather, Alex because he was going to be an older brother _and_ Iris would be his official step-mom, Aranea due to the idea of Cor actually settling down again, or Regis. Regis was already planning the wedding.

"The real question is: tux or mess dress..."

And Iris, the traitor, was feeding the man.

It'd be alright. "Alternating Wednesdays for meddling," he told Clarus. "I have your promise on it."

"Not on your life."

"... Damn."


End file.
